The broken towers of what had once been a major residential area loomed over the horizon like massive tombstones. Somewhere on the outskirts of the ruin was a sealed door that potentially hid treasures, and a lurking bandit that potentially held death. Giza had been examining the ruined city for any sign of a mecha, but hadn’t seen anything so far. Even in their ruined state, the towers were large enough for a mech to hide behind, so it was still possible the bandit was lying in wait.

  “I don’t know about this, Rush.”

  “People voted on it,” Rush said. “I should do it.”

  “If they voted to have you jump off one of these buildings, would you do it?”

  “If I was wearing the suit, yes,” Rush said. Giza grunted in frustration. She forgot his suit could survive a fall now.

  “I meant without it,” Giza said. “Like if they told you to kill yourself.”

  “Oh. No, I wouldn’t do that,” Rush said. “But this isn’t like that. This makes sense.”

  “This is going to be your first fight where you might get ambushed instead of the other way around,” Giza said. “What if the mech catches you off-guard?”

  “Giza, the smallest possible mecha is still six hundred feet tall and weighs a few hundred tons,” Rush said. “If they so much as twitch within a mile of me, I’ll know. And even if they stand still, Elvis can detect them with sensors.”

  Rush put the suit’s helmet on and paused briefly, tilting his head as he listened to an unseen voice.

  “He says the included instruments could detect a mecha even when powered down,” Rush said. “There’s no chance this thing sneaks up on us.”

  “What if it has a cannon and attacks from long range?”

  “Then my shield should be able to absorb a few hits,” Rush said. “There’s very few risks, really. I won’t even have to worry about keeping other people safe this time.”

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  To simplify the potential battle, Rush was going in ahead of the rest of the clan. They would come in to secure the scrap only after Rush had cleared the way, or determined that the mech had already moved on.

  “There’s risks in every fight, Rush.”

  “I know that,” Rush said. “But there aren’t any unusual risks in this fight. Why does this bother you more than the other ones?”

  “Why shouldn’t it bother me that you’re going into danger?”

  Rush stopped and tilted his head. Giza wondered what Elvis had to say this time.

  “Oh. Maybe,” Rush said. The helmet tilted back to focus on Giza again. “Is this about my dad?”

  “Ugh. I don’t know? Maybe,” Giza said. Her stress confused her sometimes too. “I just...it can’t be easy, right?”

  “I’m not happy about it,” Rush said. Giza was surprised to hear him acknowledge he had any emotions at all. Usually they didn’t factor into his behavior. “But I’ll live.”

  “You shouldn’t have to do this,” Giza said. “I mean, I’ve never...did I ever tell you about my mom?”

  “I know,” Rush said.

  “Oh. Did dad tell you?”

  “I figured it out on my own, partly,” Rush said. Giza only barely questioned that. It was pretty obvious her mom wasn’t around, and Rush was a smart guy. It was no surprise that his constant observation of people around him paid off. “Jen told me the rest.”

  “Well, I’ve never had to go back to where she died,” Giza said. “Sometimes we go near it, and just being able to see it in the distance makes me want to throw up. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat...it messes with me. I don’t want anyone to feel like that. Especially not you.”

  “There are more important things than how I feel,” Rush said.

  “That doesn’t mean you just disregard it completely,” Giza said. She stepped forward and put a hand on the chestpiece of the Scrapper suit. “You’ve got the suit protecting your body. You need to protect your heart too.”

  Giza drew her hand back.

  “And I mean that-”

  “Metaphorically. I figured,” Rush said. “You meant my feelings. Going back to where my dad died will make me feel bad. But I’ll feel bad if I don’t do what I can to help you. I’ll feel bad if we start falling behind in paying off our debt. Bad things happen either way. I can’t change that.”

  “But you should,” Giza said. “It’s not fair!”

  “Life isn’t fair,” Rush said. “My dad taught me that.”

  Rush turned on his heel, checked that the Scrapper suit was secure one last time, and then broke into a dead sprint towards the ruined city. Giza stood and watched him run, until Rush vanished into the cloud of dust his sprint kicked up.

  “‘Life’s not fair’,” Giza mumbled under her breath. “Well it should be.”

  She kicked some dirt, and only managed to make a small puff of dust as Rush’s expanding sandstorm began to cover the horizon.